As it is known, the rear seats of motor vehicles define the front surface of the luggage compartment and must therefore be sufficiently robust to withstand impact forces of the luggage against said surface in case of sudden braking or even in the event of an accident. For that purpose, rear seats have a rear structure, which supports a padding, which, in turn, is covered by a cover. Said structure is normally made of a metal material and comprises a tubular element and a substantially vertical plate having a peripheral groove, to which the edge of the cover is attached. The tubular element extends in a circular fashion on the front surface of the plate and is foxed to said plate.
Normally, the metal plate is fixed to the tubular element by means of rivets. Generally, a finishing panel made of a plastic material covers the rear surface of the metal plate, so as to cover the rivets and create a better look of the front surface of the luggage compartment.
In the solution described in patent EP2487065B1, which corresponds to the preamble of claim 1, the tubular element is snap-fixed to the metal plate, thus avoiding the use of rivets.
Furthermore, in patent EP2487065B1, the plate of the rear structure is made of a plastic or composite material—and not of a metal material—in order to reduce the weight of the backrest.
If you change the material of the plate, the solutions described above are not suited any longer for the procedure that is normally used to fit the cover on the padding. As a matter of fact, during this procedure, the edge of the cover is fixed to the peripheral groove of the metal plate, while the padding is being compressed; in this way, when the compression is released, the fabric of the cover is automatically stretched, thus substantially avoiding the formation of creases. A plastic material plate has a definitely smaller rigidity compared to one made of a metal material and, therefore, it deforms to a greater extent when the compression is released; due to this deformation, the residual tension of the cover is not sufficient to avoid creases or similar defects.
In other solutions, the cover forms a casing that completely wraps the padding and the structure of the backrest and can be opened, for example through a zip, in order to be then removed from the remaining part of the backrest and, for example, be washed by the user. In this case, the fabric of the casing defines the front surface of the luggage compartment, thus ensuring a definitely good look. However, this solution is relatively expensive, which makes it not suited for medium-low range cars.